Grim

State Senate Candidate Calls Gay Teen Who Committed Suicide A Murderer, Internet Comes For Him

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The below comment was written by Jason Christensen, a man currently running for Utah State Senate, in regards to a teenager who committed suicide last week over his sexuality:

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Since being posted on Reddit earlier today, it’s drummed up considerable outrage, with hundreds of people demanding that Christensen’s political career come to an abrupt and inauspicious end.

Related: Andrew Christian Model Jorge Ilich Dies In Apparent Suicide

57ea97ccae567The comment was left on a post linking to the obituary of Braxton David Taylor (pictured, right), a 19-year-old student at Weber State University who committed suicide on Monday.

“Yes, this is sad,” Christensen writes, “and hopefully God will have mercy on both sins that this boy committed. The sins of homosexuality and the sins of murder.”

Later on in the thread, he writes:

“Read the scriptures, stop denying the scriptures. I do feel bad for him and his sins. But one must recognize what’s sins [sic] and what is not sin. One must live the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not the Gospel of the Devil.”

Related: Antigay Lawmaker Commits Suicide Ahead Of Fraud Trial, Still Wins Election

Since the story went public, Christensen has made his social media accounts private due to the overwhelming barrage of hate mail he received over the course of a few hours.

“I actually emailed him and explained how disgusted I was in his comments,” writes Redditor UlyssesRambo, and Christensen wrote back:

“Please re-read my comments. I am not a bully at all unlike my opponent. I may have poor tactics to state the facts, but what I did say is truthful and I did show mercy for this poor confused boy. Life is precious and needs to be preserved, but we must also recognize the facts and give hope and encouragement in order to not just save lives, but to change peoples lives. This is our duty as Christians, not the government.”

“Terrible,” says Ramses3. “At least most people will be able to see this screenshot and realize the piece of shit he is and hopefully shun him from modern society, where he clearly doesn’t belong.

“Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention,” Meeze writes. “If you run for public office, you must be held accountable. My organization has consolidated and shared this disgusting display on our Facebook page.”

After 499 comments poured in, the discussion was closed. A message from slyder565 explained why:

Hello r/lgbt-ers and guests from /r/all! While this guy is a public figure and obviously a horrible human being, we cannot condone a which witch hunt and will be removing all additional contact information and temporarily banning anyone sharing it.

If you are angry about this, GOOD. Channel that anger into meaningful action, donate time or money to LGBT foundations in UT (no amount is too small), spend time on message boards supporting each other, support candidates who support us.

For a start: Utah Pride Centre

Please post additional resources and ideas below! Looks like this guy is actually a fringe candidate – any Utahans have more info? Who is the candidate to support in this race?

Christensen calls the notion of LGBTQ rights an “evil communistic agenda” on his floridly insane website.

Here’s a most unfortunate Facebook post from Christensen responding to the controversy:

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